I'm still working on a decent edit of all the material I gathered at the Olympics last month. Looking through the videos I have has brought back new memories already! When a DVD is ready, I will mail it out to anyone who wants a copy.
The CSPS (Canadian Ski Patrol) played a large part in the volunteer system that VanOcc had in place. I can't tell you how many CSPS people I met out there. My estimates are that approximatly 25% of the Alpine Skiing vollies had or have a CSPS connection. My zone supported the 7 members who were fortunate enough to have been given a role in the Olympics. A good 'final perspective' can be seen the Kawartha Zone weekly newsletter.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
New Perspective
The link to Guenter Hujara's blog can be found on the right side. This is a good read to give you the highest perspective on what it was like to put the Alpine races on last month.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Day 24 - Learning to Ski all over again
When I was 4yrs old, my Mom and Dad taught me how to ski. The hill we skied on was part of the bunker on the forth hole at the Eastbourne Golf course on Lake Simcoe. There were a few different 'lines' down this 10ft high hill. I can remember my brother and I 'lapping' this hill endlessly back in 1967. This was when it all started for me. For the next 20 or so years, I skied at the 'Honey Pot' ski hill in Toronto (now Eagles Nest golf course), Snow Valley in Barrie, Caledon Ski club near Orangeville (and more). Still learning to ski the whole time. Then in 1988, almost exaclty 1/2 my life ago, I arrived at Apex (south Okanagan). Until now, I had always said to myself that this is when I learned to ski, for real. I spent 2 years on that hill and probably skied in excess of 150days there. Well, 23 years later, I think I've 'learned' how to ski all over again!
Yesterday (Thurs) was a nice clear day. The air was crisp, so the snow was nice. I met up with 'Richard from Calgary' at the lightboard at the top of Whislter, the fellow I had skied with the afternoon before, when Wommie left the hill. We headed off in search of some good turns. He and I seem to have the same sence of what a good run is: quality over quantity for sure. In the Symphony Amphatheatre, the hike to Flute bowl was littered with skiers and boarders. Not having the right gear with us (read: avy gear), we decided going to the top was not a great idea. We did however hit some nice lines on the lower section. From there, we tested every aspect of the Piccalo bowl for good snow. Then over to Harmony bowl for a few runs. We hit the Peak chair next and found that runs like 'Doom and Gloom' and 'Sneaky Pete's' had the softest snow on the mountain. We spent the next couple of hours tearing up these and other runs off the Peak. You can 'lap' the Peak chair in 12 minutes!
I left the hill at 3pm to shop in the village. Lots and lots of sales on now. After filling up a few bags, I headed back to Pemberton for the 'last supper' with Jeff and Mat. We had a blast last evening, taking pictures and making videos, doing guy stuff (see pics). Mat has become my 'pseudo son' for sure. I just said goodbye to him as he headed off to school this morning. We will stay in touch through Facebook (he's a FB junkie just like my kids).
Today I will pack up all my stuff (see Feb9 photos), go for a Mtn bike tour around the Pemberton trails and head down to Vancouver. Scott Firth (aka Filthy) will pick me up at the Hyatt and we will head of the see Lisa and his kids at their house in Richmond. They have kindly offered me a bed before my 8am flight Saturday back to Toronto.
Though I've been here for 25 days, it feels like a week. I will be leaving 'my heart' here in BC for sure.
Yesterday (Thurs) was a nice clear day. The air was crisp, so the snow was nice. I met up with 'Richard from Calgary' at the lightboard at the top of Whislter, the fellow I had skied with the afternoon before, when Wommie left the hill. We headed off in search of some good turns. He and I seem to have the same sence of what a good run is: quality over quantity for sure. In the Symphony Amphatheatre, the hike to Flute bowl was littered with skiers and boarders. Not having the right gear with us (read: avy gear), we decided going to the top was not a great idea. We did however hit some nice lines on the lower section. From there, we tested every aspect of the Piccalo bowl for good snow. Then over to Harmony bowl for a few runs. We hit the Peak chair next and found that runs like 'Doom and Gloom' and 'Sneaky Pete's' had the softest snow on the mountain. We spent the next couple of hours tearing up these and other runs off the Peak. You can 'lap' the Peak chair in 12 minutes!
I left the hill at 3pm to shop in the village. Lots and lots of sales on now. After filling up a few bags, I headed back to Pemberton for the 'last supper' with Jeff and Mat. We had a blast last evening, taking pictures and making videos, doing guy stuff (see pics). Mat has become my 'pseudo son' for sure. I just said goodbye to him as he headed off to school this morning. We will stay in touch through Facebook (he's a FB junkie just like my kids).
Today I will pack up all my stuff (see Feb9 photos), go for a Mtn bike tour around the Pemberton trails and head down to Vancouver. Scott Firth (aka Filthy) will pick me up at the Hyatt and we will head of the see Lisa and his kids at their house in Richmond. They have kindly offered me a bed before my 8am flight Saturday back to Toronto.
Though I've been here for 25 days, it feels like a week. I will be leaving 'my heart' here in BC for sure.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Day 23 - Great Powder Day on Whistler
After a great breakfast, Wommie and I headed off to Whistler for the day. We headed straight to the Peak chair (9:10am load) and did a warmup run on Whistler Glacier. There was about 10cm of new snow and the sun was shinning. Our next run was a trip over the 'back side' of the Peak. You would only want to do this with someone who knows the way out. We had about 25 turns down some of the nicest powder fields I can remember. When you ski this aspect of the hill, you must hike back out, about a 10 minute boot walk out back into Bagel Bowl. From there, we hit the 'Cristmas Tree' run down the north face of the West Bowl. After a scoot down around Harmony Bowl, we headed back up to the Peak again. Really great skiing. Unforntunatly, Murphy's law struck around 11:30am when Mat's (Wommie's son) school called to inform Wom that Mat was sick and needed to be picked. Jeff had to leave the hill, so I grabbed my bag from the truck (parking on hill now open again) and stored it in a locker under the Longhorn bar and headed back up.
On my first ride up the Peak, I met up with a fellow (Richard) from Calgary who owns a 1/4 share time share at Whistler. He knew the mountain well. We skied Christmas Tree again (sweet all day long), West Bowl and a bunch of late day runs down the face of the Peak (Shale Face etc). You can 'lap' the Peak in about 12 minutes, so we piled on the runs right up to the last ride up at 3:10pm. We parted ways and I did a Peak to Village run. This had to be over 12km long for sure: down through Burnt Stew, back into Harmony and down the Olympic run into the village. My legs are working well now as I really didn't need to stop for a rest the whole way down!
Tom Redford (Bell guy) was off work at 5pm, so I enjoyed the sun in the village before meeting up with him. The plan was that I would stay over in Whistler with him tonight. We headed off to his condo on Painted Cliff. The hotel here is full of Bell employees from all over Canada. There is a bbq outside next to the pool and hot tub, so Tom bbq'ed us some chicken while I prepared the rest of the diner. After that, it was into the outdoor hot tub, right beside the ski run. After soaking, we headed off to bed.
I'm writting this blog on Tursday morning from Tom's room after a nice continental breakfast. From here, you can ski right onto the run (ski in, ski out). The skies are clear, but there is no new snow. This could be my last day on the hill and I may meet up with Richard from Calgary later on.
One day left at Whistler. My bus leaves here for Vancouver tomorrow (Friday) at 4pm, but I still have shopping and packing to do before that, so skiing tomorrow could be dicey.
On my first ride up the Peak, I met up with a fellow (Richard) from Calgary who owns a 1/4 share time share at Whistler. He knew the mountain well. We skied Christmas Tree again (sweet all day long), West Bowl and a bunch of late day runs down the face of the Peak (Shale Face etc). You can 'lap' the Peak in about 12 minutes, so we piled on the runs right up to the last ride up at 3:10pm. We parted ways and I did a Peak to Village run. This had to be over 12km long for sure: down through Burnt Stew, back into Harmony and down the Olympic run into the village. My legs are working well now as I really didn't need to stop for a rest the whole way down!
Tom Redford (Bell guy) was off work at 5pm, so I enjoyed the sun in the village before meeting up with him. The plan was that I would stay over in Whistler with him tonight. We headed off to his condo on Painted Cliff. The hotel here is full of Bell employees from all over Canada. There is a bbq outside next to the pool and hot tub, so Tom bbq'ed us some chicken while I prepared the rest of the diner. After that, it was into the outdoor hot tub, right beside the ski run. After soaking, we headed off to bed.
I'm writting this blog on Tursday morning from Tom's room after a nice continental breakfast. From here, you can ski right onto the run (ski in, ski out). The skies are clear, but there is no new snow. This could be my last day on the hill and I may meet up with Richard from Calgary later on.
One day left at Whistler. My bus leaves here for Vancouver tomorrow (Friday) at 4pm, but I still have shopping and packing to do before that, so skiing tomorrow could be dicey.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Ski Week Pictures
I managed to get the photos from the last two days up. There is a new link on the right called 'Ski Week Pictures' for this.
Off to hill with Woimmie for a day of skiing.
Off to hill with Woimmie for a day of skiing.
Day 22 - New respect and admiration for Blackcomb Mountain
When ever I've been here, I've mostly skied on Whistler. Most peope who ski here kinda have their 'favorite' hill. For me it's always been Whister. And once you are familiar with one hill, it can be hard to make the switch, Well, today I gave Blackcomb a full test (IMO). I loaded the gondola at 8:30am and after a cruiser under the Jersey Cream chair and one more on the (slow) Crystal chair, I headed up to find the Blackcomb Glacier.
This involves a small hike from the top of the Glacier t-bar, just off the Glacier chair. There were a bunch of people heading back there, so I wasn't worried that I was by myself and that this was my first time up there. Skiing the glacier itself offers you about 1200 vertical feet of great fall-line skiing, leading you down to the Garabaldi Watershed valley. On the 4 mile run out to the Excalibur chair, you can get a good view of the other Blackcomb 'bowls'. Back up the Glacier chair, I then headed to Spanky's Ladder. This is the access point to get into the bowls. The climb is easy, but once you reach the traverse, things can get a bit 'sketchy'. Being that it was my first time up there, and the access to Ruby Bowl is by no means obvious, and the fact that I was alone, I waited until others arrived. 3 young guys taking some ski photos lead me through the access. Once in, the skiing was awesome. Again, great fall-line skiing, down about 1000 vertical feet, on relativly soft snow (due to the elevation).
After the long ski out and a quick rip on the 'self' timed GS race course, it was off to lunch. From there, I proceded to the terrain park to take some videos for Justin (my son). The park is best viewed from the Catskinner chair that services the park, so I made a video of all the large jumps. Unfortunatly no one was riding at the time, but the jumps are very impressive. The other park features seemed few and far between as compared to other parks I know in the East.
For the remaining part of the afternoon, I skied all the lines possible from the Glacier chair (my favorite chair at Blackcomb) and the t-bars, right up to 3:30pm. A good bit of new snow had accumulated, so the skiing was excellent. I finished the day with a rip down the Couger Chutes. Tomorrow Jeff and I are off to ski together. This will be our last opportunity to ski together before I leave for Vancouver on Friday.
PS. I cannot get the pictures to upload due to some kind of technical error that I cannot fix right now. I will try again tomorrow.
This involves a small hike from the top of the Glacier t-bar, just off the Glacier chair. There were a bunch of people heading back there, so I wasn't worried that I was by myself and that this was my first time up there. Skiing the glacier itself offers you about 1200 vertical feet of great fall-line skiing, leading you down to the Garabaldi Watershed valley. On the 4 mile run out to the Excalibur chair, you can get a good view of the other Blackcomb 'bowls'. Back up the Glacier chair, I then headed to Spanky's Ladder. This is the access point to get into the bowls. The climb is easy, but once you reach the traverse, things can get a bit 'sketchy'. Being that it was my first time up there, and the access to Ruby Bowl is by no means obvious, and the fact that I was alone, I waited until others arrived. 3 young guys taking some ski photos lead me through the access. Once in, the skiing was awesome. Again, great fall-line skiing, down about 1000 vertical feet, on relativly soft snow (due to the elevation).
After the long ski out and a quick rip on the 'self' timed GS race course, it was off to lunch. From there, I proceded to the terrain park to take some videos for Justin (my son). The park is best viewed from the Catskinner chair that services the park, so I made a video of all the large jumps. Unfortunatly no one was riding at the time, but the jumps are very impressive. The other park features seemed few and far between as compared to other parks I know in the East.
For the remaining part of the afternoon, I skied all the lines possible from the Glacier chair (my favorite chair at Blackcomb) and the t-bars, right up to 3:30pm. A good bit of new snow had accumulated, so the skiing was excellent. I finished the day with a rip down the Couger Chutes. Tomorrow Jeff and I are off to ski together. This will be our last opportunity to ski together before I leave for Vancouver on Friday.
PS. I cannot get the pictures to upload due to some kind of technical error that I cannot fix right now. I will try again tomorrow.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Day 21 - Time to rip, Games are gone
It's a good thing that I essentially had to wait 3 weeks to start skiing here. My legs are perfectly conditioned now, after spending 20 of the last 21 days on my skiis on the hill. Though I haven't been actually 'skiing' thoses days (except 2 of them), the course work that I have been performing has my legs and body in a great postion to ski the whole mountain.
I caught the 7:10am bus from Pemberton and met a fellow named Norm from Collingwood Ontario. He is here visiting family and was alone heading to the hill. We decided to ski together and we both were at the top of the Wistler Village gondola this morning by 8:20am. Yes, from my door in Pemberton to the top of Whistler only took 1hr 10 minutes. A sure sign the the Olympics has left Whistler. After taking 3 cruisers down the softest, untracked cordory I've ever skied under the Emerald chair, we had a quick pit stop and headed for Harmony chair. I've completely fallen in love with this chair. The terrain it serves and the quickness of the ride up is truly awesome. Norm never did tell me his age, but he did tell me his wife was born in 1932, so I'm thinking he is around 80. This is not a problem when skiing Harmony chair. We would ride the lift together and then meet up at one of the various places the cruiser runs crossed the fall-line. Sometimes this was all the way back at the lift, since I was more interested in following the fall-line today!
We skied this lift all morning and headed of to meet Mel, Norm's friend from Pemberton for lunch. Mel spends alot of his time para-gliding all over the world. He told us about his trip to Nepal where you can soar in the updrafts all over the mountains. He and some of his friends do this kind of thing for kicks. He once had to land his kite in a remote area where he traded a Canadian t-shirt for a lift to the bus to get back to his group, somewhere high up above Nepal. Facinating adventures this guy has had. After lunch, we rode the Peak chair, but it was so windy at the top, we decided that it would be best just to head back to the Harmony chair, which you an do from the Peak via a 4-5 mile long run. We spent the entire afternoon at Harmony before departing in our separate ways.
Here is a list, in no particular order of the run's I skied today: Burnt Stew Trail/Bowl, Sun Bowl, Harmony Ridge, Kaleidoscope, Low Roll, Gun Barrels, Little Whistler, Camel Back, Boomer Bowl, Back Bowl, G.S. , Krummholz and McConkey's. This lift sweeps you back up so fast you can cover the whole Harmony area in one day.
I plan to spend tomorrow at Blackcomb. I've never really had a good look at some of the stuff up around Blackcomb and Horstman Glaciers and think it's about time that I did. I may even venture up 'Spanky's Ladder' for some of the Blackcomb bowls like: Ruby, Garnet, Diamond and Sapphire. Becuase it requires riding 2 or more lifts to get back up to this area, my runs will be more limited than they were today. If that doesn't work out, maybe Symphony chair on Whislter will be open and I can Peak to Peak it over there. Wommie says he might ski this Wednesday, which will be nice since he knows these mountains as well as anyone out here. I'm trying hard not to think about packing up a leaving in a few days, since the fun is just starting.
I caught the 7:10am bus from Pemberton and met a fellow named Norm from Collingwood Ontario. He is here visiting family and was alone heading to the hill. We decided to ski together and we both were at the top of the Wistler Village gondola this morning by 8:20am. Yes, from my door in Pemberton to the top of Whistler only took 1hr 10 minutes. A sure sign the the Olympics has left Whistler. After taking 3 cruisers down the softest, untracked cordory I've ever skied under the Emerald chair, we had a quick pit stop and headed for Harmony chair. I've completely fallen in love with this chair. The terrain it serves and the quickness of the ride up is truly awesome. Norm never did tell me his age, but he did tell me his wife was born in 1932, so I'm thinking he is around 80. This is not a problem when skiing Harmony chair. We would ride the lift together and then meet up at one of the various places the cruiser runs crossed the fall-line. Sometimes this was all the way back at the lift, since I was more interested in following the fall-line today!
We skied this lift all morning and headed of to meet Mel, Norm's friend from Pemberton for lunch. Mel spends alot of his time para-gliding all over the world. He told us about his trip to Nepal where you can soar in the updrafts all over the mountains. He and some of his friends do this kind of thing for kicks. He once had to land his kite in a remote area where he traded a Canadian t-shirt for a lift to the bus to get back to his group, somewhere high up above Nepal. Facinating adventures this guy has had. After lunch, we rode the Peak chair, but it was so windy at the top, we decided that it would be best just to head back to the Harmony chair, which you an do from the Peak via a 4-5 mile long run. We spent the entire afternoon at Harmony before departing in our separate ways.
Here is a list, in no particular order of the run's I skied today: Burnt Stew Trail/Bowl, Sun Bowl, Harmony Ridge, Kaleidoscope, Low Roll, Gun Barrels, Little Whistler, Camel Back, Boomer Bowl, Back Bowl, G.S. , Krummholz and McConkey's. This lift sweeps you back up so fast you can cover the whole Harmony area in one day.
I plan to spend tomorrow at Blackcomb. I've never really had a good look at some of the stuff up around Blackcomb and Horstman Glaciers and think it's about time that I did. I may even venture up 'Spanky's Ladder' for some of the Blackcomb bowls like: Ruby, Garnet, Diamond and Sapphire. Becuase it requires riding 2 or more lifts to get back up to this area, my runs will be more limited than they were today. If that doesn't work out, maybe Symphony chair on Whislter will be open and I can Peak to Peak it over there. Wommie says he might ski this Wednesday, which will be nice since he knows these mountains as well as anyone out here. I'm trying hard not to think about packing up a leaving in a few days, since the fun is just starting.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Day 20 - Work is done
After a slow start to the day and talking with my family on Skype, I boarded the Pemberton bus for Whislter. This is the last day that the buses will run all day long. Starting tomorrow there are only 2 morning buses and 2 evenining buses. I arrived at Creekside to find that the security had left the site. The gates were all open and I was able to get to my locker, get dressed in my ski clothes, pack up all my tools (crampons, box cutter, multi tool) and extra bag and boarded the creekside gondala (still closed to the public) and made it to the RoundHouse resturaunt 5 minutes after the puck drop. The hill was empty, probably because anyone out skiing today was now inside watching hockey. We found an area where there were plenty of tables. The only problem was we could not get the TV volume up high enough. Just would'nt work. Then the TV turned off for a minute just before overtime. We all nearly died, but the TV did come back on. Way to go Sid, thanks for that goal: a goal for all of Canada indeed.
As soon as the game ended, Michelle, Jeff and myself headed straight to the Peak Chair. It was last ride up there for the day and we choose 'Bagel Bowl' for our run. This is a great run with a nice fall line. From there onto Highway 86 and back up the Red chair. We grabbed our packs and headed for the village. Michelle and Jeff went to see Blue Rodeo in the village and I boarded the Pemberton bus. You can ski right into the Gondola Transit Exchange area, 10 steps from your bus. I was too tired to take in the Village, even though it was the last night. Once in Pemberton, I jumped on Wom's mtn bike for a pin around town and to buy some groceries. My legs are still really sore from yesterday. I may just go for a mountain bike tour on the local Pemberton trails tomorrow.
I'm watching the closing cermeonies at Wom's place. After that it will be a hot bath and off to bed. If I want to ski tomorrow, I need to catch a 7:10am bus. And here I thought my early mornings were over, but with just 5 short days to go until I return to Ontario, I need to make the most of my time.
You did it Canada!!!
As soon as the game ended, Michelle, Jeff and myself headed straight to the Peak Chair. It was last ride up there for the day and we choose 'Bagel Bowl' for our run. This is a great run with a nice fall line. From there onto Highway 86 and back up the Red chair. We grabbed our packs and headed for the village. Michelle and Jeff went to see Blue Rodeo in the village and I boarded the Pemberton bus. You can ski right into the Gondola Transit Exchange area, 10 steps from your bus. I was too tired to take in the Village, even though it was the last night. Once in Pemberton, I jumped on Wom's mtn bike for a pin around town and to buy some groceries. My legs are still really sore from yesterday. I may just go for a mountain bike tour on the local Pemberton trails tomorrow.
I'm watching the closing cermeonies at Wom's place. After that it will be a hot bath and off to bed. If I want to ski tomorrow, I need to catch a 7:10am bus. And here I thought my early mornings were over, but with just 5 short days to go until I return to Ontario, I need to make the most of my time.
You did it Canada!!!
Day 19 - Final day at WCR (Creekside) Venue
I was at the bus stop at 1:30am to find that Richard had been there already for 20 minutes. We waited until 2am and finally a bus arrived. When the door of the bus opened, the driver informed us that he wasn't leaving for an hour!! After a 15 minute shouting match between the bus driver and Richard, another bus finally arrived. The one that was there returned to the top of town to wait for his 3am departure. Very frustrating indeed. We did finally make it to Dusty's by 3am. The place was jammed with Weasels sleeping all over the place. This group is dead tired. After a crew chiefs meeting we were told to hold until 6:30am where a program of 'boot step, product distribution, slip and then water' would be done. They call it 'farming the track'. Dave and myself were going to be on the 'boot step' team. Off to sleep in the ski patrol locker room, since they have a couch.
At 7am we all assembled at the slalom start. We began the program on the main start by doing the toe step all the way up, following the track. This was really really hard to do without slipping off and crampons could not be used. When the program was completed, the 'inspectors' came and they determined that the track would not hold up, so the alternate start must be used. All that work for nothing. After a reset of the start, we began the program on the entire track. I've got some good photos and videos of this process. It took us 45 minutes to 'march' down the track on our heels and toes. My hip muscules were shot by the time we reached the finish line. During the race, I had no track side duties so I watched the first 20 racers from the soup tent at the base and then returned to the ski patrol couch for another short nap. Sleep at this point was more important than watching the whole first run. At 12noon we all assembed at the slalom start again to do the program all over again on the reset for the second run. A bit easier this time as it only took us about 1/2hr and it wasn't quite as slippery. We all recieved a loaud applause from the stands as we crossed the finish line. This time, instead of napping again after, I headed to the top of Muirs with Brad to catch the race. Great spot as you see them come over Boyds and pass over Muirs into the finish. Canada was on he podium for a short time. Too bad about the Canadian alpine racers: so much pressure on the home field.
After the race, Brad allowed me to come to his place at First Tracks where I had a nice shower and got changed into dry clothes. Today was the wettest day yet by far. Just soaked by the end of the day. I felt pretty good even though I'd been on shift since 3am. From there we made a pit stop at the Weasel tent before going to the VanOcc volunteer appreciation party at the 'timing flats' or finish area. They gave us 2 free beers and a hot dog. After a few lame speaches and some draw prizes (they gave away the days race bibs), we all headed back the Weasel tent. Tonight was the last night it would be open. I continue to meet so many people each day in the alpine workforce. After today I will feel a sence of 'detachment' for sure; as working shoulder to shoulder, day in day out with these people makes you get 'attached' to them in some way. Sad to say goodbye to so many new friends. Klyde from Fernie gave me an open invite any time of year to come visit Fernie. I've been there once but would love to go back.
After a 'long' bus ride back to Pemberton, I uploaded a bunch of photos and went to bed. I'm meeting Wommie and Michelle at the Roundhouse, top of Whislter to watch the big game (USA vs CAN, gold medal).
Go Canada Go
At 7am we all assembled at the slalom start. We began the program on the main start by doing the toe step all the way up, following the track. This was really really hard to do without slipping off and crampons could not be used. When the program was completed, the 'inspectors' came and they determined that the track would not hold up, so the alternate start must be used. All that work for nothing. After a reset of the start, we began the program on the entire track. I've got some good photos and videos of this process. It took us 45 minutes to 'march' down the track on our heels and toes. My hip muscules were shot by the time we reached the finish line. During the race, I had no track side duties so I watched the first 20 racers from the soup tent at the base and then returned to the ski patrol couch for another short nap. Sleep at this point was more important than watching the whole first run. At 12noon we all assembed at the slalom start again to do the program all over again on the reset for the second run. A bit easier this time as it only took us about 1/2hr and it wasn't quite as slippery. We all recieved a loaud applause from the stands as we crossed the finish line. This time, instead of napping again after, I headed to the top of Muirs with Brad to catch the race. Great spot as you see them come over Boyds and pass over Muirs into the finish. Canada was on he podium for a short time. Too bad about the Canadian alpine racers: so much pressure on the home field.
After the race, Brad allowed me to come to his place at First Tracks where I had a nice shower and got changed into dry clothes. Today was the wettest day yet by far. Just soaked by the end of the day. I felt pretty good even though I'd been on shift since 3am. From there we made a pit stop at the Weasel tent before going to the VanOcc volunteer appreciation party at the 'timing flats' or finish area. They gave us 2 free beers and a hot dog. After a few lame speaches and some draw prizes (they gave away the days race bibs), we all headed back the Weasel tent. Tonight was the last night it would be open. I continue to meet so many people each day in the alpine workforce. After today I will feel a sence of 'detachment' for sure; as working shoulder to shoulder, day in day out with these people makes you get 'attached' to them in some way. Sad to say goodbye to so many new friends. Klyde from Fernie gave me an open invite any time of year to come visit Fernie. I've been there once but would love to go back.
After a 'long' bus ride back to Pemberton, I uploaded a bunch of photos and went to bed. I'm meeting Wommie and Michelle at the Roundhouse, top of Whislter to watch the big game (USA vs CAN, gold medal).
Go Canada Go
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Day 18 - Now it's the Men's turn
Around 1988, I was living in the Okanagan Valley. Ski bumming it for 2 years when I was done going to school. On one road trip to Whistler in my VW van I had no where to stay. I pulled into Dusty's in Creeekside, rolled my Van to a stop around 1am on the notion that 'Rob the Blob' Anderson would still be at work. The lights were on and there were a few people shooting pool. After rapping on the window, I asked for Rob. His hair was down to his shoulders back then. He was the head chef of the resturaunt. A bowl of soup and a beer and we off to Emerald Estates. This was my second visit to Whislter ever and for the next week and half spent skiing and sleeping on his couch; I met life long friends: Rob, Brian Atikinson (BA), Mike Lind and Tim Croucher.
Why would I tell you this? Well, 23 years later I was able to do that all that over again: I've met 'life long' friends and I'll be at Dusty's for breakfast tomorrow morning at 2am!!!! The final race is apoun us. The Men's crew is assigned to a 2am breakfast, 3am load. My turn!
After a nice morning in Pemberton taking my time to get ready, I hit the hill at about 11am. I grabbed my LR (lunch remote) ticket and headed up the gondola and onto Red chair. I took a warm up cruiser and headed to the glacier Tbar. The Peak was closed. They pull all the chairs off this lift in this kind of weather. The cable is empty. For what ever reason the TBar was closed, even though I had seen people on it from the Red chair. So, I caught one more run behind the Roundhouse and downloaded back to the creek to meet the team for our 2pm load. Greg was back from work so Elizabeth, Greg and myself joined Randy's team and headed up the gondola to mid station. This was timed to be exactly at the end of the Ladies slalom. We all assembled in the tent (which leaks all over). I decided to upload a video of this tonight. Goes along the lines of the Andrea Janak speach. She was sitting behind me at the time. My closest connection to the Olympic "Brain Trust" gave our final marching call. As the days have been winding on, these events have becomeing fewer and furthor between, so it was a nice inspirational speach. Kind of like giving you thanks in advance of the work you are about to do.
Our group headed down to our section which was Muirs Hop. From there, we were given the task (from Willy) of slipping out the section before. We did the 'one arm snow plow' (only words I can think of now) where one ski runs straight and the other does a snowplow. We were essentially 'slippers' and did about 4 or 5 laps (cycles via the gondola) of this. Kills the 'glutts' like you've never felt. This was a nice change to the shovelling we all did the day before. Plus, most of the ladies crew stayed after their race to help us. Snow blowers were in aboundance. After about 4hrs of this we headed to the tent for some hockey and to see the intence outcome of the ladies curling match against Sweden. This would be a short stay, since the mens crew were due back at 2am. So, I boarded the bus(es) to Pemberton pronto.
I made the executive decision to 'stay up'. I heard talk of this and I know that Walter (former crew member) did this earlier during the downhill early starts. What the heck. Could I really sleep for 3 or 4 hours while the final 2 days of the Olympics were on! I got to Pemberton around 9pm, started doing the pictures and this blog entry, and will be leaving here in about 1.5 hours from now. The next 24 hours will be very interesting.
My original crew chief Dave Willis is due back on the hill. I wonder if he is coming for breakfast. Unless he's been following the ladies start times for the last 3 days (4am, 2am, 2am), he will sure be suprized!
Go Canada GO
Why would I tell you this? Well, 23 years later I was able to do that all that over again: I've met 'life long' friends and I'll be at Dusty's for breakfast tomorrow morning at 2am!!!! The final race is apoun us. The Men's crew is assigned to a 2am breakfast, 3am load. My turn!
After a nice morning in Pemberton taking my time to get ready, I hit the hill at about 11am. I grabbed my LR (lunch remote) ticket and headed up the gondola and onto Red chair. I took a warm up cruiser and headed to the glacier Tbar. The Peak was closed. They pull all the chairs off this lift in this kind of weather. The cable is empty. For what ever reason the TBar was closed, even though I had seen people on it from the Red chair. So, I caught one more run behind the Roundhouse and downloaded back to the creek to meet the team for our 2pm load. Greg was back from work so Elizabeth, Greg and myself joined Randy's team and headed up the gondola to mid station. This was timed to be exactly at the end of the Ladies slalom. We all assembled in the tent (which leaks all over). I decided to upload a video of this tonight. Goes along the lines of the Andrea Janak speach. She was sitting behind me at the time. My closest connection to the Olympic "Brain Trust" gave our final marching call. As the days have been winding on, these events have becomeing fewer and furthor between, so it was a nice inspirational speach. Kind of like giving you thanks in advance of the work you are about to do.
Our group headed down to our section which was Muirs Hop. From there, we were given the task (from Willy) of slipping out the section before. We did the 'one arm snow plow' (only words I can think of now) where one ski runs straight and the other does a snowplow. We were essentially 'slippers' and did about 4 or 5 laps (cycles via the gondola) of this. Kills the 'glutts' like you've never felt. This was a nice change to the shovelling we all did the day before. Plus, most of the ladies crew stayed after their race to help us. Snow blowers were in aboundance. After about 4hrs of this we headed to the tent for some hockey and to see the intence outcome of the ladies curling match against Sweden. This would be a short stay, since the mens crew were due back at 2am. So, I boarded the bus(es) to Pemberton pronto.
I made the executive decision to 'stay up'. I heard talk of this and I know that Walter (former crew member) did this earlier during the downhill early starts. What the heck. Could I really sleep for 3 or 4 hours while the final 2 days of the Olympics were on! I got to Pemberton around 9pm, started doing the pictures and this blog entry, and will be leaving here in about 1.5 hours from now. The next 24 hours will be very interesting.
My original crew chief Dave Willis is due back on the hill. I wonder if he is coming for breakfast. Unless he's been following the ladies start times for the last 3 days (4am, 2am, 2am), he will sure be suprized!
Go Canada GO
Friday, February 26, 2010
Day 18 - Photo updates
Just a quick note that I've added descriptions to the Feb19 photos. I heading off to the hill to do a few turns before my 2pm shift start.
Day 17 - Back on the track
One thing I forgot to mention about yesterday was that it was my very first day that I was not on the mountain. I've had my skiis on every single day since Feb 10 except for yesterday, including 2 full days for free skiing. Today was a 7:30 breakfast, 8:30 load time which for me meant getting up at 5:15am. Today was my best day for meeting buses. The Pemberton bus was right there when I walked the 500meters or so from Jeff's place to the bus stop, the connection bus from the village to creekside was right there and so was the bus back to Pemberton. It's really nice not to have to wait for buses. Starting Monday, the bus schedule will be significantly reduced as the games wrap up on Sunday.
The remaining members of my team (Elizabeth and myself) have been assigned to Randy's team for the week while we wait for Dave to return this Saturday. Randy is a great guy to work for, good sence of humor and very organized. After spending 3 hours clearing the flat section below Boyd's Chin, and taking in some of the Ladies GS race (second run) we headed for lunch in the mid-station soup tent. This was fun because we got to see the Canadian womens curlers make it into the gold medal final on the TV in the tent. After lunch we we headed back down to the finish slope to begin clearing the remaining snow from last night. This was quite a bit of work but only took another 2 hours. After that we were dismissed.
The timing was good for this because Wom had to go in for an emergency root canal at 4pm and needed someone to pick Mat (his son) after a day skiing. The kids here are on March break already, so he need a bit of babysitting help. I was able to use is truck to go for a small tour around Pemberton. It felt wierd to drive a vehicle since I have not done that in nearly 3 weeks. I pickup up Wom at 6:30pm when he was done. He's a new man now that is tooth has been fixed.
We spent a quiet night at home watching the Olympics. Although I have not actually attented any events, I do get a fair chance to watch some of it on TV. It was dissapointing to see the results in the mens freestyle aerials. I thought we'd get a medal in that event for sure. Such is sport I guess.
Fernando sent me a text from Williams Lake BC today. He was back patrolling his hill today and wanted to report the fine powder conditions. His hill just happens to be called Mt Timothy. I may have to visit there one day to check out my name sake hill. Looks like some really nice challenging skiing.
Because the ladies will run the slalom event tomorrow (Men's saturday), the ladies crew was asked again to come in for a 2am breakfast, 3am load. I bet they are getting pretty tired of that. After tomorrow, all thier events will be done, so there is just one more day for them. Keep up the great work 'ladies crew', my thoughts are with you. For the men's crew, we have been asked to come in for a 2PM load time. This may seem strange, but I think there is more snow on the way tonight/tomorrow morning. Hopefully they won't keep us too long since I really want to watch the Canadian men's semi final hockey game tomorrow night. To bad for the people in the east since this game won't start until 6:30pm PST.
Go Canada Go
The remaining members of my team (Elizabeth and myself) have been assigned to Randy's team for the week while we wait for Dave to return this Saturday. Randy is a great guy to work for, good sence of humor and very organized. After spending 3 hours clearing the flat section below Boyd's Chin, and taking in some of the Ladies GS race (second run) we headed for lunch in the mid-station soup tent. This was fun because we got to see the Canadian womens curlers make it into the gold medal final on the TV in the tent. After lunch we we headed back down to the finish slope to begin clearing the remaining snow from last night. This was quite a bit of work but only took another 2 hours. After that we were dismissed.
The timing was good for this because Wom had to go in for an emergency root canal at 4pm and needed someone to pick Mat (his son) after a day skiing. The kids here are on March break already, so he need a bit of babysitting help. I was able to use is truck to go for a small tour around Pemberton. It felt wierd to drive a vehicle since I have not done that in nearly 3 weeks. I pickup up Wom at 6:30pm when he was done. He's a new man now that is tooth has been fixed.
We spent a quiet night at home watching the Olympics. Although I have not actually attented any events, I do get a fair chance to watch some of it on TV. It was dissapointing to see the results in the mens freestyle aerials. I thought we'd get a medal in that event for sure. Such is sport I guess.
Fernando sent me a text from Williams Lake BC today. He was back patrolling his hill today and wanted to report the fine powder conditions. His hill just happens to be called Mt Timothy. I may have to visit there one day to check out my name sake hill. Looks like some really nice challenging skiing.
Because the ladies will run the slalom event tomorrow (Men's saturday), the ladies crew was asked again to come in for a 2am breakfast, 3am load. I bet they are getting pretty tired of that. After tomorrow, all thier events will be done, so there is just one more day for them. Keep up the great work 'ladies crew', my thoughts are with you. For the men's crew, we have been asked to come in for a 2PM load time. This may seem strange, but I think there is more snow on the way tonight/tomorrow morning. Hopefully they won't keep us too long since I really want to watch the Canadian men's semi final hockey game tomorrow night. To bad for the people in the east since this game won't start until 6:30pm PST.
Go Canada Go
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Day 16 - My heart goes out to the Ladies Crew
The second run of the Ladies GS race was postponed this afternoon. This crew (approx 550 people) worked their asses off today starting at 4am to get the race to go. Weather can't stop Weasels from working hard. The first run was very foggy, seeing people like Lindsay Vonn crash. Difficult conditions even for the best racers in the world, so it was very dis-heartining for the crew not to get the second run in. To make matters worse, more snow is on it's way tonight and half the womens crew was asked to return for the second run tomorrow at a 2am breakfast, 3am load time. (the other half an hour later). I'm certain that is the earliest any course crew team has been asked to come in. A small bit of good news for them was that they will be served a hot breakfast at Dusty's early tomorrow morning, rather than in the breakfast tent. Each and every one of them has 'hero status' in my books.
When I filled out my volunteer application in mid-2008, I had applied to be on 1) the medical/first aid crew 2) alpine racing and 3) computer support. To think that I recieved a placement on the 'mens' side of Alpine feels more like I won a million dollar lottery. The number of channels that my application went through and the possible outcomes of my application amazes me. I drew the longest straw I possibly could have. The people I have met and the experiances I am having will last a life time with out doubt.
My day started after an 11 hour sleep. I can't recall a time that has happened before. In bed by 9pm, up at 8am. My hip was still really hurting so I headed off to my massage at 10am. During this process, it was found that there was not a muscle in my body that wasn't crushed. Though I feel much better, I still have a way to go to get back to normal. Even Ferd told me the other day that he has never seen me so fit. Hard work is good for the soul and for the body.
After a lunch at home consisting of a grilled peanut butter sandwich and a banana, I headed for the village to meet Tom Redford. Tom and I play hockey together every Sunday night in Uxbridge and he has been a good friend for many years. Tom came to Whislter in Jan 4 on assignment with Bell Canada. He drew the Whistler card and has been part of the team that built the 'media centre'. They have setup a complex that supports every network that broadcasts from the games: OBS, NBC, CTV, TSN and more. He will be stationed here until long after the para-Olympic games where they will tear down the whole mess and move back home. His kids are all older, but I'm sure his wife misses him dearly.
Canada played Russia this afternoon in a very spirited game. After Tom headed to work at 4pm, I made the decision that the best place to see this game in Whistler was at the Weasel House. It's $7.50 a beer everywhere else. Though this was the very first day so far that I didn't have skiis on my feet on the mountain, you are always welcome in the tent. It was the first time I've been in there wearing 'civil' clothing, so it did feel a bit strange. While in the tent, I was fortunate enough to be introduced to none other than Kathy Kriener of Timmins Ontario. Kathy is an Alpine skiing Gold medalist from the 1976 Olympics at Innsbruck. We had a nice chat for a bit. I can tell you that rubbing shoulders with people like that is very inspiring indeed.
I'm writting this on the bus back to Pemberton after seeing (on TV) Canada take Gold and Silver in the two women bobsleigh races. The person beside me on the bus was there for it! What a grat experience that would be. I've been told that the men's crew is back for a 6:30am breakfast, 7:30am load tomorrow. Our last race is not until Saturday, so I will be confirming this via the Men's Crew hotline when I get back to Pemby, but after a few light days, I'm ready for duty again.
Happy Birthday MOM!!!!!!
Go Canada Go
When I filled out my volunteer application in mid-2008, I had applied to be on 1) the medical/first aid crew 2) alpine racing and 3) computer support. To think that I recieved a placement on the 'mens' side of Alpine feels more like I won a million dollar lottery. The number of channels that my application went through and the possible outcomes of my application amazes me. I drew the longest straw I possibly could have. The people I have met and the experiances I am having will last a life time with out doubt.
My day started after an 11 hour sleep. I can't recall a time that has happened before. In bed by 9pm, up at 8am. My hip was still really hurting so I headed off to my massage at 10am. During this process, it was found that there was not a muscle in my body that wasn't crushed. Though I feel much better, I still have a way to go to get back to normal. Even Ferd told me the other day that he has never seen me so fit. Hard work is good for the soul and for the body.
After a lunch at home consisting of a grilled peanut butter sandwich and a banana, I headed for the village to meet Tom Redford. Tom and I play hockey together every Sunday night in Uxbridge and he has been a good friend for many years. Tom came to Whislter in Jan 4 on assignment with Bell Canada. He drew the Whistler card and has been part of the team that built the 'media centre'. They have setup a complex that supports every network that broadcasts from the games: OBS, NBC, CTV, TSN and more. He will be stationed here until long after the para-Olympic games where they will tear down the whole mess and move back home. His kids are all older, but I'm sure his wife misses him dearly.
Canada played Russia this afternoon in a very spirited game. After Tom headed to work at 4pm, I made the decision that the best place to see this game in Whistler was at the Weasel House. It's $7.50 a beer everywhere else. Though this was the very first day so far that I didn't have skiis on my feet on the mountain, you are always welcome in the tent. It was the first time I've been in there wearing 'civil' clothing, so it did feel a bit strange. While in the tent, I was fortunate enough to be introduced to none other than Kathy Kriener of Timmins Ontario. Kathy is an Alpine skiing Gold medalist from the 1976 Olympics at Innsbruck. We had a nice chat for a bit. I can tell you that rubbing shoulders with people like that is very inspiring indeed.
I'm writting this on the bus back to Pemberton after seeing (on TV) Canada take Gold and Silver in the two women bobsleigh races. The person beside me on the bus was there for it! What a grat experience that would be. I've been told that the men's crew is back for a 6:30am breakfast, 7:30am load tomorrow. Our last race is not until Saturday, so I will be confirming this via the Men's Crew hotline when I get back to Pemby, but after a few light days, I'm ready for duty again.
Happy Birthday MOM!!!!!!
Go Canada Go
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Day 14/15 - Great Day on the hill plus GS Race day
I now have 597 pictures in the album and I'm not uploading all of them either! The camera I have is really easy to use (smile feature is a blast) and I've been taking an average of 60 photos and/or videos a day! Be sure to check the 'My Olympic Photos' link on the right.
Yesterday's skiing was awesome again. Blue bird skies, light soft snow everywhere. The Harmony Bowl offers a wide variety of terrian. Our group had a wide assortment of skill level, with Ferd not being on skiis for more than 10 years, Randy for 3 or 4 years. Mike and Christine joined us for the day too. Mike is a great skier and an ex-skipatroller. I wasn't aware you could become an 'ex' skipatroller :-) We ripped all over the place up there, going 60+ kph on the cruisers. You can feel a form of g-force at the bottom of some of the knolls. We also managed a few steeper turns in the morning before have lunch on Whislter. We then boarded the Peak to Peak and made a stop at Blackcomb. 11 minutes, you can switch mountains.
At Blackcomb, our first run was down Ridge Runner and Rock n Roll. This is about a 6.5 mile long. From there, Ferd and Christine decided it was time to start the apres and they headed to Merlins at the base of Blackcomb. The four of us then headed out to 7th Heaven. We skiied Xyggy's Meadow first. I'd totally forgotten about this run. Great fall line skiing straight down for about 1000 vertical feet. A couple of other runs that I can't remember and we wrapped up the day with a run down the Cougar Chutes, just to skiers left of Pakalolo. Nice to get a bit of steeps in for a change to the cruisers.
I headed back to Whister via Peak to Peak again (3rd time now) and the Creekside Gondola since that is where I have to store my skiis. I was back on the GS course again today, so I needed my stuff. Rather than spend $7.50 a beer at a bar, I made my way to the Weasel house. This was fun, since I then met up with Steve Podborski. He's an original Crazy Canuk for those of you who don't know him. I brought my netbook with me this time and gave Sue and my kids a 'visual' tour of the tent. They got to meet a couple of my weasel friends, but it was still early (4:30pm) so many were not there yet since they were still working on the hill. You can still go to the tent on your days off, so I took full advantage.
From there it was off to meet the gang at 'Monks' resturaunt. This is a classy joint with expensive food. I didn't find out just how expensive until they brought me my bill for just Wom and me: $250. Yes, I'm not kidding. 1 cheap bottle of wine, 2 gunbarrel coffees and 2 entres sure add up fast. After the awesome meal, we closed down the Fairmont lounge with some serious antics. Some pictures of this were not included on the picture site. You will have to wait for the 'other Olympic blog' to see those. I put some up anyway and we had a real nice time until Ferd got stuck in the bobsleigh the hotel had in the middle of their lobby. Wommy and I had to pull him out. Why I didn't get a picture of that I'll never know, but Wom has a few I'll get him to send me.
Last night was the first night that I slept in Whistler (rather than Pemberton, 35 minutes away). Chirstine and Mike kindly allowed me couch space for the night, which made sence since I was due back on venue at 6:30am.
Randy and Ferd woke me up at 6:15am since they were heading out to the Nordic combined event at Callaghan. I dressed back into my smurf suit and said goodbye to the boys as we walked to our buses. Ferd and Randy were heading back to Van after the event. Great visiting with them for a few days. See ya boys!
Dave Willis (crew chief) had to head back to work on Sunday so the remaining team (Lange, Greg, Ron, Elizebeth and myself) were reassigned to Randy Tarchuck's group. His group is quite large and as I rode the gondola Walter called me on my cell to tell me he had already been dismissed for the day. I called Ron to see where he was only to find he was sitting in the midstation soup tent. I joined him for a bit and then we both dismissed ourselves for the day. There were over 100 racers in this two run event so any work would'nt be happening for a long time. Since the GS track is about half of a downhill there were tonnes of people available for the work. I feel a bit back about not being there, but sometimes there isn't much yiou can do. Sorry team! I sid goodbye to Ron and Sally today. They have another week left before returning to Thunder Bay and are heading out to the island to visit friends. Ron was a real pleasure to work with too.
Back at Wom's in Pemberton, I cleaned the house, did some laundry, shopped for groceries and booked a massage for tomorrow morning. My hip is really bugging me from the high speed skiing and all the work over the last 12 or 13 days. I called the hot line to see when I was due back on the hill and found out that all men's crew had been given the day off. With one small race remaining, there really isn't too much to be done until race day. I expect I'll be back on site Thursday and/or Friday to get the track ready. I'll be there on Friday regardless since the women are running their slalom event that day and I want to watch it. I haven't missed a race day yet!
This evening I spent calling people like Al Buck, my Mom and brother. I updated the pictures site. It seems I've taken many shots of the same thing, so the daily quantity is slowly going down.
If you want another perspective on the Olympics as seen by Lange, one of our team, his blog is at http://soulberg.blogspot.com
Go Canada Go
Yesterday's skiing was awesome again. Blue bird skies, light soft snow everywhere. The Harmony Bowl offers a wide variety of terrian. Our group had a wide assortment of skill level, with Ferd not being on skiis for more than 10 years, Randy for 3 or 4 years. Mike and Christine joined us for the day too. Mike is a great skier and an ex-skipatroller. I wasn't aware you could become an 'ex' skipatroller :-) We ripped all over the place up there, going 60+ kph on the cruisers. You can feel a form of g-force at the bottom of some of the knolls. We also managed a few steeper turns in the morning before have lunch on Whislter. We then boarded the Peak to Peak and made a stop at Blackcomb. 11 minutes, you can switch mountains.
At Blackcomb, our first run was down Ridge Runner and Rock n Roll. This is about a 6.5 mile long. From there, Ferd and Christine decided it was time to start the apres and they headed to Merlins at the base of Blackcomb. The four of us then headed out to 7th Heaven. We skiied Xyggy's Meadow first. I'd totally forgotten about this run. Great fall line skiing straight down for about 1000 vertical feet. A couple of other runs that I can't remember and we wrapped up the day with a run down the Cougar Chutes, just to skiers left of Pakalolo. Nice to get a bit of steeps in for a change to the cruisers.
I headed back to Whister via Peak to Peak again (3rd time now) and the Creekside Gondola since that is where I have to store my skiis. I was back on the GS course again today, so I needed my stuff. Rather than spend $7.50 a beer at a bar, I made my way to the Weasel house. This was fun, since I then met up with Steve Podborski. He's an original Crazy Canuk for those of you who don't know him. I brought my netbook with me this time and gave Sue and my kids a 'visual' tour of the tent. They got to meet a couple of my weasel friends, but it was still early (4:30pm) so many were not there yet since they were still working on the hill. You can still go to the tent on your days off, so I took full advantage.
From there it was off to meet the gang at 'Monks' resturaunt. This is a classy joint with expensive food. I didn't find out just how expensive until they brought me my bill for just Wom and me: $250. Yes, I'm not kidding. 1 cheap bottle of wine, 2 gunbarrel coffees and 2 entres sure add up fast. After the awesome meal, we closed down the Fairmont lounge with some serious antics. Some pictures of this were not included on the picture site. You will have to wait for the 'other Olympic blog' to see those. I put some up anyway and we had a real nice time until Ferd got stuck in the bobsleigh the hotel had in the middle of their lobby. Wommy and I had to pull him out. Why I didn't get a picture of that I'll never know, but Wom has a few I'll get him to send me.
Last night was the first night that I slept in Whistler (rather than Pemberton, 35 minutes away). Chirstine and Mike kindly allowed me couch space for the night, which made sence since I was due back on venue at 6:30am.
Randy and Ferd woke me up at 6:15am since they were heading out to the Nordic combined event at Callaghan. I dressed back into my smurf suit and said goodbye to the boys as we walked to our buses. Ferd and Randy were heading back to Van after the event. Great visiting with them for a few days. See ya boys!
Dave Willis (crew chief) had to head back to work on Sunday so the remaining team (Lange, Greg, Ron, Elizebeth and myself) were reassigned to Randy Tarchuck's group. His group is quite large and as I rode the gondola Walter called me on my cell to tell me he had already been dismissed for the day. I called Ron to see where he was only to find he was sitting in the midstation soup tent. I joined him for a bit and then we both dismissed ourselves for the day. There were over 100 racers in this two run event so any work would'nt be happening for a long time. Since the GS track is about half of a downhill there were tonnes of people available for the work. I feel a bit back about not being there, but sometimes there isn't much yiou can do. Sorry team! I sid goodbye to Ron and Sally today. They have another week left before returning to Thunder Bay and are heading out to the island to visit friends. Ron was a real pleasure to work with too.
Back at Wom's in Pemberton, I cleaned the house, did some laundry, shopped for groceries and booked a massage for tomorrow morning. My hip is really bugging me from the high speed skiing and all the work over the last 12 or 13 days. I called the hot line to see when I was due back on the hill and found out that all men's crew had been given the day off. With one small race remaining, there really isn't too much to be done until race day. I expect I'll be back on site Thursday and/or Friday to get the track ready. I'll be there on Friday regardless since the women are running their slalom event that day and I want to watch it. I haven't missed a race day yet!
This evening I spent calling people like Al Buck, my Mom and brother. I updated the pictures site. It seems I've taken many shots of the same thing, so the daily quantity is slowly going down.
If you want another perspective on the Olympics as seen by Lange, one of our team, his blog is at http://soulberg.blogspot.com
Go Canada Go
Monday, February 22, 2010
Day 13 - Off to the hill
I've updated the photo descriptions for the Feb20 and Feb21 days. I'm off now for a day on the hill.
Go Canada Go
Go Canada Go
Day 12 - Bodie Miller stikes again
Dave Willis is a very understanding man. I could not have a better crew chief. I knew I couldn't make the 4:45am breakfast, 5:45am load time for todays shift and after course inspection starts (7:30am), the course is closed. I would not be able to get to my locaton back at Slalom start, but I really wanted to get there before race start (9:30am). I rode the Creekside gondola just as the race started and passed right over Wom, Michelle, Ferd and Randy in the stands. If you zoom in on the original photo taken from the gondola, you can actually see them.
I met Fernando at midstation and since we could not get to our site, we decided today would be a good opportunity to catch the downhill portion of the race from various other 'public' locations. We headed straight to the tunnel were you can view the Weasel and Fallaway sections of the course. This is one of the steaper sections up top. Great viewing. From there we headed to the start and Toilet Bowl sections of the course. I've now been able to catch the downhill from basically every possible section since we have been stationed at the same location 9 out of 10 days.
This was Fernando's last day. He his driving home to Williams Lake tomorrow. The crews are slowly getting smaller as people weren't as fortunate as myself to be able to stay to the bitter end. Now that all the downhill and super G runs are done, the work load in terms of volume or distance is significantly reduced anyway, but I'm miss his humor on the job site. Two races left: GS and slalom (Tues/Fri)
This afternoon's slalom portion of the race was nothing less than spectacular. I was able to get to my location immedialy following the end of the downhill, but when I arrived, I found that all crews had made their way down the hill and were working the course already. There were way way too many people to do the jobs required so I ended up watching the race from the start down to Boyd's Chin. Got some amazing photos from this due to the fact that I was less than 20 feet from the track, standing on the run. It was nice to be that close.
After the race, I had a quick drink with Walter up top. His last day may be tomorrow. From there I hurried my way to the village to meet the boys for the CAN vs USA hockey game. Watching was fun, but the outcome was quite dissapointing. Pull up your socks boys, or your out of the tourny.
Heading back on the hill tomorrow with Ferd, Wom and Buff. The weather should be great again. Ski day 2 coming up.
A note about videos: due to the time consuming process it takes to get these uploaded etc, I've decided to hold off untill I'm home. Also, viewing a bunch of little clips might not be the best way to present the material. My plan is to edit them altogether into a longer piece and save it as one. I have approximatly 30minutes so far.
Go Canada Go
I met Fernando at midstation and since we could not get to our site, we decided today would be a good opportunity to catch the downhill portion of the race from various other 'public' locations. We headed straight to the tunnel were you can view the Weasel and Fallaway sections of the course. This is one of the steaper sections up top. Great viewing. From there we headed to the start and Toilet Bowl sections of the course. I've now been able to catch the downhill from basically every possible section since we have been stationed at the same location 9 out of 10 days.
This was Fernando's last day. He his driving home to Williams Lake tomorrow. The crews are slowly getting smaller as people weren't as fortunate as myself to be able to stay to the bitter end. Now that all the downhill and super G runs are done, the work load in terms of volume or distance is significantly reduced anyway, but I'm miss his humor on the job site. Two races left: GS and slalom (Tues/Fri)
This afternoon's slalom portion of the race was nothing less than spectacular. I was able to get to my location immedialy following the end of the downhill, but when I arrived, I found that all crews had made their way down the hill and were working the course already. There were way way too many people to do the jobs required so I ended up watching the race from the start down to Boyd's Chin. Got some amazing photos from this due to the fact that I was less than 20 feet from the track, standing on the run. It was nice to be that close.
After the race, I had a quick drink with Walter up top. His last day may be tomorrow. From there I hurried my way to the village to meet the boys for the CAN vs USA hockey game. Watching was fun, but the outcome was quite dissapointing. Pull up your socks boys, or your out of the tourny.
Heading back on the hill tomorrow with Ferd, Wom and Buff. The weather should be great again. Ski day 2 coming up.
A note about videos: due to the time consuming process it takes to get these uploaded etc, I've decided to hold off untill I'm home. Also, viewing a bunch of little clips might not be the best way to present the material. My plan is to edit them altogether into a longer piece and save it as one. I have approximatly 30minutes so far.
Go Canada Go
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Day 11 - Unreal day on the hill(s)
First day off in 10 days. Wom, Mat and I headed up Whislter on the nicest day yet. Each day gets better and better. In fact it was so good, I really didn't have time to take too many shots but there are some. We skied every Alpine lift possible: Harmony, Symphony, Peak, plus the Peak to Peak. Sweet behond belief!
Ferd and Buff arrived in town today so we are off to see them now. The next 12 hours could be very interesting. I'm back on the track tomorrow for the Men's Super Combined race. Ferd and Randy, Wom and Michelle will be in the stands tomorrow, and I'll be just above them behind the Olympic rings watching from above. That will be fun for sure.
Short blog again today as we are out the door again back to Whistler for the awards ceremony.
Checkthe pictures from today for some amazing shots.
Go Canada Go
Ferd and Buff arrived in town today so we are off to see them now. The next 12 hours could be very interesting. I'm back on the track tomorrow for the Men's Super Combined race. Ferd and Randy, Wom and Michelle will be in the stands tomorrow, and I'll be just above them behind the Olympic rings watching from above. That will be fun for sure.
Short blog again today as we are out the door again back to Whistler for the awards ceremony.
Checkthe pictures from today for some amazing shots.
Go Canada Go
Day 11 - Why are the Canadians so bad at ski racing
A dissappointing day on the hill for the Canadian racers. I got a few pics and vids.
Saturday is SKI DAY so this is a short blog. I've uploaded a set of photos fir the day
Saturday is SKI DAY so this is a short blog. I've uploaded a set of photos fir the day
Friday, February 19, 2010
Day 10 - Thank you Zeus
Today was by far the nicest weather day yet. Due to our late start today (6:30am), I was able to watch the sunrise over the coastal mountains. What a sight. Today was to be the womens Super Combined event. This a repeat of the downhill from the day before, followed by a slalom race.
I arrived at venue a bit late today, but since there was no men`s race and our section was in good shape, everything was fine. I had to catch up with my gang at our site (men`s slalom start) by slipping down Expressway and down the Sewer. Today was even more bullet proof than yesterday. When I arrived, Fernando called me on my cell from the bottom explaining that he was going to get his skiis sharpened and would probably not return for the day. It`s definatly a skill that takes time to learn, side slipping down sheer ice. You really have to just let èm go. If you try to fight it, you are going to bite it for sure. (side note, today I felt as though I finally have some form of `mountain legs` going. I felt really good on my skiis. After days of burning thighs, I think I`ve turned to corner)
Our group was partered up with another group lead by Randy Tarchuck. Jan Hayduk`s mom is on this team. We all shared some laughs while we showed their team around our site, including some nice snow cat picture sessions. The men were running what is know locally as the `rodeo` or `gong show``. In preparation for tomorrows Super G race, this involes all teams and coaches taking to the hill for a check out of the hill at very high speeds. The althetes are separated by 5 or 10 seconds as they screem down the hill at `downhill like` speeds. This only lasts an hour. Some additional B nets were added around key turns, but the work was light. The womens downhill portion of the race started at 9:30. This time a bunch of us trucked down the hill to just above the Hot Air jump. This was a great place to be with a full view of the jump and the finish below. I`ve got some great videos from this site which I will try to get sorted out soon.
Though the morning was a bit chilly, once the sun managed to come up over the east side of the mountain, we were treated to what can only be termed `sun pit` type weather. Since there were only 35 racers in the event, we were told to meet at the soup tent at mid station at 11:30. I was pretty sure we would be dismissed at this point because our track needed no additional prep. Lange informed me that there was more work to do, and since I really wanted to watch the slalom event, I was okay with not going skiing (yet). I spent the next 2 hours doing contouring work on Muirs Hop, since one the FIS guys said it looked a bit sloopy. These guys are absolute perfectionist. From this vantage, you can see about 65% of the race. Being close to the crowd, you could also hear the announcer at the bottom, so it wasn`t a problem keeping track of what was going on.
Today we said good bye to two team members: Conner and Cory. It was sad to see these two `key` memebers of our team have to go home, though I`m quite certain that our paths will cross again in the future.
From there, Greg and I proceeded to the Roundhouse for a nice Stella and a sun bake, while gazing at the Peak from the patio. Skiing down from there, I reconfirmed that my legs were almost ready for some good mountain skiing. We hit some nice soft bumps behind the Roundhouse, followed by a wide open cruiser back to the mid. I was flying on my Atomics (with poles) for this. I can`t wait for Saturday when Wommie, Matthew (his son) and I hit the hill on my first day off. Wommie has been here for something like 20 years so he knows his way around the hill and Zeus promises us that the weather will be good. I think Ferd arrives in BC that day too.
At the Weasel house tonight the crowd was treated to an inspiration speach by none other than Nancy Green her self. Each night in the tent, someone gets up at gives a speach in an effort to keep our spirits high. Back breaking work all day long on the hill can be tough and sometimes its hard to keep the spirits up. But, listening to someone like Nancy speak, can easily make you forget all the pain. Oh, and the beer helps too! Another suprise a the tent was running into Terry Sutton from Skyloft. Her and I traded stories for a bit. She happens to be staying in Pemberton too.
Though each day for me may seem very routine, there is a new adventure around every corner.
Go Canada Go
I arrived at venue a bit late today, but since there was no men`s race and our section was in good shape, everything was fine. I had to catch up with my gang at our site (men`s slalom start) by slipping down Expressway and down the Sewer. Today was even more bullet proof than yesterday. When I arrived, Fernando called me on my cell from the bottom explaining that he was going to get his skiis sharpened and would probably not return for the day. It`s definatly a skill that takes time to learn, side slipping down sheer ice. You really have to just let èm go. If you try to fight it, you are going to bite it for sure. (side note, today I felt as though I finally have some form of `mountain legs` going. I felt really good on my skiis. After days of burning thighs, I think I`ve turned to corner)
Our group was partered up with another group lead by Randy Tarchuck. Jan Hayduk`s mom is on this team. We all shared some laughs while we showed their team around our site, including some nice snow cat picture sessions. The men were running what is know locally as the `rodeo` or `gong show``. In preparation for tomorrows Super G race, this involes all teams and coaches taking to the hill for a check out of the hill at very high speeds. The althetes are separated by 5 or 10 seconds as they screem down the hill at `downhill like` speeds. This only lasts an hour. Some additional B nets were added around key turns, but the work was light. The womens downhill portion of the race started at 9:30. This time a bunch of us trucked down the hill to just above the Hot Air jump. This was a great place to be with a full view of the jump and the finish below. I`ve got some great videos from this site which I will try to get sorted out soon.
Though the morning was a bit chilly, once the sun managed to come up over the east side of the mountain, we were treated to what can only be termed `sun pit` type weather. Since there were only 35 racers in the event, we were told to meet at the soup tent at mid station at 11:30. I was pretty sure we would be dismissed at this point because our track needed no additional prep. Lange informed me that there was more work to do, and since I really wanted to watch the slalom event, I was okay with not going skiing (yet). I spent the next 2 hours doing contouring work on Muirs Hop, since one the FIS guys said it looked a bit sloopy. These guys are absolute perfectionist. From this vantage, you can see about 65% of the race. Being close to the crowd, you could also hear the announcer at the bottom, so it wasn`t a problem keeping track of what was going on.
Today we said good bye to two team members: Conner and Cory. It was sad to see these two `key` memebers of our team have to go home, though I`m quite certain that our paths will cross again in the future.
From there, Greg and I proceeded to the Roundhouse for a nice Stella and a sun bake, while gazing at the Peak from the patio. Skiing down from there, I reconfirmed that my legs were almost ready for some good mountain skiing. We hit some nice soft bumps behind the Roundhouse, followed by a wide open cruiser back to the mid. I was flying on my Atomics (with poles) for this. I can`t wait for Saturday when Wommie, Matthew (his son) and I hit the hill on my first day off. Wommie has been here for something like 20 years so he knows his way around the hill and Zeus promises us that the weather will be good. I think Ferd arrives in BC that day too.
At the Weasel house tonight the crowd was treated to an inspiration speach by none other than Nancy Green her self. Each night in the tent, someone gets up at gives a speach in an effort to keep our spirits high. Back breaking work all day long on the hill can be tough and sometimes its hard to keep the spirits up. But, listening to someone like Nancy speak, can easily make you forget all the pain. Oh, and the beer helps too! Another suprise a the tent was running into Terry Sutton from Skyloft. Her and I traded stories for a bit. She happens to be staying in Pemberton too.
Though each day for me may seem very routine, there is a new adventure around every corner.
Go Canada Go
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Day 9 - Carnage on the Ladies Track
I made my 8am start about an hour early. The buses from Pemberton are very irregualar and I have to account for this by giving them about an extra 45 minutes each morning. Our first job was slipping. This was the worst yet since the surace was -10C and bullet proof. Slide slipping this makes your eye balls shake. We did a small amount of B net work around our area and then got ready to watch the ladies race. Race 2 of 10 was about to start. 45 races, 4 Canadians. I've lost my start list but they are Emily Brydon, Britt janyk, ? Simmerling and Shauna Rubens. Alli on our team used to race with Shauna. She told me that Simmerling DNS (did not start) due to all the carnage that was happening. If you missed the race, just check CTV, they have each run in full on their site. Some racers had a really hard time with the track. I was on TV again today, but just as a blue coat. I was stationed just at the bottom of the second last turn. I was sure I saw myself on the CTV website duwing one of the racers!
One of the racers had to be long line lifted off the course. This was directly above where I was wathing the race from. I caught the whole resuce on video. I will get this up onto a video site ASAP.
While we were doing some final clean up after the race at the top of Boyds Bump, the namesake himself showed up to say hi. He is the womens coach and was decending the hill. Willy and the gang all know him personnaly. Kinda neat to run into someone while standing on the jump named for him.
We had diner at the Old Spagetti Factory tonight. Dave our chief kindly took us all out for diner. After that Jeff (my host) and is son Matthew took me to meet Michelle (Jeff's girlfried) at the medals ceremony. My camera battery died during the day, but I was able to get one shot of the Alpine downhill medal winners. After that Our Lady Peace entertained the crowed. The Barenaked Ladies had just played in the village. No shortage of things to do and see.
I'm writting tonight using Jeff's new wireless setup. 6:30am start tomorrow, but should be an easy day. Women will run the Super Combined event. This is a combination time of slalom and downhill. There will probably only be 35 racers since this is a fairly exclusive event combining technical skills with speed. Usually you can only be good at one of these. Should be a fun day.
Go Canada Go
One of the racers had to be long line lifted off the course. This was directly above where I was wathing the race from. I caught the whole resuce on video. I will get this up onto a video site ASAP.
While we were doing some final clean up after the race at the top of Boyds Bump, the namesake himself showed up to say hi. He is the womens coach and was decending the hill. Willy and the gang all know him personnaly. Kinda neat to run into someone while standing on the jump named for him.
We had diner at the Old Spagetti Factory tonight. Dave our chief kindly took us all out for diner. After that Jeff (my host) and is son Matthew took me to meet Michelle (Jeff's girlfried) at the medals ceremony. My camera battery died during the day, but I was able to get one shot of the Alpine downhill medal winners. After that Our Lady Peace entertained the crowed. The Barenaked Ladies had just played in the village. No shortage of things to do and see.
I'm writting tonight using Jeff's new wireless setup. 6:30am start tomorrow, but should be an easy day. Women will run the Super Combined event. This is a combination time of slalom and downhill. There will probably only be 35 racers since this is a fairly exclusive event combining technical skills with speed. Usually you can only be good at one of these. Should be a fun day.
Go Canada Go
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Quick update
I was just about to upload some new video's onto Youtube and was greeted with a nasty 'copy right infringment' notice from the Olympic committe. I was not aware that I was breaking any rules, but I guess it makes sence. They do own the rights to all Olympic broadcasting, so I had to delete all videos that contain any athletes. I'll just have to find another way to share these later on....
Day 8 - Finally got some sleep
I had been kidding myself that you could live an adrenaline alone. I had been sorly missing one other component: sleep. Well, I got a full 8 hrs last night and I feel like it's day one all over again!. Yes.
If you are wondering what 'forjed' means, it the underlying theme that runs through all of what is going on out here: my children. I've already mentioned before that the biggest challenge for me was to be away from my family for so long. Forget lifting heavy Whislter 'elephant snot' all day and side step packing for 2 hrs at a time. That's easy when it comes to the emotions I have about not having them all by side at this glorious event. I hope one day, by seeing me do this, they will be inspired to dream big and live large. Never be afraid to give it your best shot. Your dreams can come true if want them to.
Okay, back to basics again. No alarm set last night (see title). Got up at 9am, ate some breakfast and started to get ready to go to the Creek. Two text messages arrived from my team: where the *&^%$ are you?? I had explained this to Dave, so I didn't worry. Plus, tomorrow was to be my day off, but all days off (and the origianl schedule I was given) were cancelled days ago. I waited for the Pemby bus 35 minutes again. Arrived at the creek, checked in, boots on, grabbed lunch and loaded the gondola. That takes 2hrs to start my day, each day! I checked with both men's and ladies dispatch and was informed that it was too late to get to my site. Course was on hard lock down. My heart sank, thinking of how hard everyone must have been working clear the 25cm from the night before. One text I recieved from the crew said 'you do not want to be here right now' and another 'consider yourself lucky'. They are going to kill me tomorrow!
After a bowl of soup at the break tent at the top of Garbo, and chatting with Dave's daughter Alisha, I did few easy runs near Emerald chair. It's funny when you are at the origial top of Whislter and you see the Peak chair. It kinda calls your name and has this gravitational ability to suck you in. Had to ride it, even though it was 2:30pm and my legs have not quite adapted to mountain skiing yet. The snow was choppy and heavy and I had no poles, but it was still a good ride down none the less.
On my nightly stroll through the village, I came across a silver medalist showing off her medal. I snapped a bunch of shots as this is as close I'll ever get to a real Olympic medal. I never get to spend more than about 1/2hr each evening anywhere near the village, so my nightly strolls to the Gondola Transit exchange are always fun. I see something cool each time. I will find out who she is when I have more time. Maybe some knows, leave a comment on this post if you know.
I had been searching for an idea to help 'pay' rent for staying with Wommie. So this morning, Matthew (his 12 year old son) and I decided that the place needed Wifi. So I jumped down to Function Junction and bought him a router. I'm going to set it up tomorrow.
Heading to bed ready for a 7am breakfast, 8am load time. They tell me the Women's downhill is a go, but it's raining here in Pem right now, which usully means snow up higher. There is supposed to be a high front coming that will drop the temps and clear the skies. Hope it happens....
PS. I've found a good way to blog more information by expanding the descriptions of my photos. So, if you are really following this blog, there is a tonne more stuff on the Feb 16 section photos. I plan to continue this as it's way easier for me to remember the days events that way.
PSS: also, my spelling issues are partly due to the fact I'm using a 10inch ASUS netbook for this and the text font is about 3 pixels big.
Go Canada Go
If you are wondering what 'forjed' means, it the underlying theme that runs through all of what is going on out here: my children. I've already mentioned before that the biggest challenge for me was to be away from my family for so long. Forget lifting heavy Whislter 'elephant snot' all day and side step packing for 2 hrs at a time. That's easy when it comes to the emotions I have about not having them all by side at this glorious event. I hope one day, by seeing me do this, they will be inspired to dream big and live large. Never be afraid to give it your best shot. Your dreams can come true if want them to.
Okay, back to basics again. No alarm set last night (see title). Got up at 9am, ate some breakfast and started to get ready to go to the Creek. Two text messages arrived from my team: where the *&^%$ are you?? I had explained this to Dave, so I didn't worry. Plus, tomorrow was to be my day off, but all days off (and the origianl schedule I was given) were cancelled days ago. I waited for the Pemby bus 35 minutes again. Arrived at the creek, checked in, boots on, grabbed lunch and loaded the gondola. That takes 2hrs to start my day, each day! I checked with both men's and ladies dispatch and was informed that it was too late to get to my site. Course was on hard lock down. My heart sank, thinking of how hard everyone must have been working clear the 25cm from the night before. One text I recieved from the crew said 'you do not want to be here right now' and another 'consider yourself lucky'. They are going to kill me tomorrow!
After a bowl of soup at the break tent at the top of Garbo, and chatting with Dave's daughter Alisha, I did few easy runs near Emerald chair. It's funny when you are at the origial top of Whislter and you see the Peak chair. It kinda calls your name and has this gravitational ability to suck you in. Had to ride it, even though it was 2:30pm and my legs have not quite adapted to mountain skiing yet. The snow was choppy and heavy and I had no poles, but it was still a good ride down none the less.
On my nightly stroll through the village, I came across a silver medalist showing off her medal. I snapped a bunch of shots as this is as close I'll ever get to a real Olympic medal. I never get to spend more than about 1/2hr each evening anywhere near the village, so my nightly strolls to the Gondola Transit exchange are always fun. I see something cool each time. I will find out who she is when I have more time. Maybe some knows, leave a comment on this post if you know.
I had been searching for an idea to help 'pay' rent for staying with Wommie. So this morning, Matthew (his 12 year old son) and I decided that the place needed Wifi. So I jumped down to Function Junction and bought him a router. I'm going to set it up tomorrow.
Heading to bed ready for a 7am breakfast, 8am load time. They tell me the Women's downhill is a go, but it's raining here in Pem right now, which usully means snow up higher. There is supposed to be a high front coming that will drop the temps and clear the skies. Hope it happens....
PS. I've found a good way to blog more information by expanding the descriptions of my photos. So, if you are really following this blog, there is a tonne more stuff on the Feb 16 section photos. I plan to continue this as it's way easier for me to remember the days events that way.
PSS: also, my spelling issues are partly due to the fact I'm using a 10inch ASUS netbook for this and the text font is about 3 pixels big.
Go Canada Go
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Feb13 pictures now have descriptions
I finally added descriptions to the Feb13 pictures and I have put up 3 new videos from race day. It's hard for me to upload all the video I have because it's recorded in 1280p HD. I'll assemble all of it when I get home.
Day 7 - Race Day (finally)
Waking up this morning at 3:30am was hard. The long days are really starting to take their toll on my body. I made it down to the Creekside on time. The bus was jammed to the max with course workers. Up the hill we went and proceeded to our location. This involves side slipping down the side of the track from dispatch at the bottom of the Weasel, approximatly a kilometer. Combining that kind of skiing and the 'step slide' we have been doing all week has my legs burning. We were at out site by 6:30am and the racers started their course inspection at 7:30. At 8:45, the racers all did what is called a 'speed' inspection, from the top of the Coaches corner to the finish. They did this because thier training run was shorted the other day.
Be sure to check the pictures from today. Walter and Eva both were feeding the Whisky Jacks right from their hand.
The race finally begun at 10:30. Eric Guay went 9th and had an awesome run. The other Canadians: Manny, Robbie and Jan did not fair so well. Such is racing. The winner is determined by who makes the least amount of mistakes and today it was the Swiss Dider Defago who skied a perfect run. From our location, we could hear the crowd of 7000+ at the bottom roar as each race came over the final two jumps, the first of which is managed by Willy Basin, our section leader. Our team was unable to see the landings, but the crowd gave us a good indication of how exciting it was. For Robbie Dixon's run, Cory phone his girl firend in Toronto so we could have a live update. He relayed his interval and crash to the team 'live'. Pretty neat.
While the men's race was on, the ladies were doing the first part of their training run. Their finish line was right at our station. We are just above the point that the two tracks merge. So, since the men were running, the ladies course was shortened. They completed the training to the finish after the men's race was done. Having both tracks in view from our spot is really cool. There is always lots of action going on.
Afer the race, we took down a few nets so the 'cats' could get through. On skiers right, directly accross from our location is a 'pick point'. This is where the winch cat's hook their winch to for gromming the steeper parts of the course. We then went to the break tent, only to find there was not food left. This was the busiest day yet as most volunteers were on site working the men's and ladies tracks at the some time.
After a quick trip up the gondola and back down, we were dismissed. Tomorrow is the Super Combined event. This is when the racers run the downhill (again), followed by a run down the slalom track, which starts right above us. We were told to be back to 3:30 sign in, 4:30 load time. A few of us talked to Dave to explain our situation about travel. To get there for this time, I would have to wake up at 1:30am. This is just not going to happen as I am way too tired . I'm just going to have to be late. To make things worse, the food services can't serve us before 5am, so we were not getting breakfast either. Many people were pretty upset, but with more snow forcasted, there will be lots of work to do before the first race.
I just watched the Canadians do their downhill run on CTV. If you look closely on the screen just at the point that Jan Hudek hits Boyd's Bump, you can see me. I'm standing directly in the middle of the 6 Olympic flags that line our station. I stood there purposely when Jan came down, just to see if I would be abe to see myself. Well, it worked. You can't see my face, only my blue jacket, and only for a split second.
I haven't had a day off yet, but should get one Wedensday, when the ladies run the downhill. I plan to watch this from the hill somewhere, that is if my day off is not cancelled as they all have been for everyone up until now.
Go Canada Go
Be sure to check the pictures from today. Walter and Eva both were feeding the Whisky Jacks right from their hand.
The race finally begun at 10:30. Eric Guay went 9th and had an awesome run. The other Canadians: Manny, Robbie and Jan did not fair so well. Such is racing. The winner is determined by who makes the least amount of mistakes and today it was the Swiss Dider Defago who skied a perfect run. From our location, we could hear the crowd of 7000+ at the bottom roar as each race came over the final two jumps, the first of which is managed by Willy Basin, our section leader. Our team was unable to see the landings, but the crowd gave us a good indication of how exciting it was. For Robbie Dixon's run, Cory phone his girl firend in Toronto so we could have a live update. He relayed his interval and crash to the team 'live'. Pretty neat.
While the men's race was on, the ladies were doing the first part of their training run. Their finish line was right at our station. We are just above the point that the two tracks merge. So, since the men were running, the ladies course was shortened. They completed the training to the finish after the men's race was done. Having both tracks in view from our spot is really cool. There is always lots of action going on.
Afer the race, we took down a few nets so the 'cats' could get through. On skiers right, directly accross from our location is a 'pick point'. This is where the winch cat's hook their winch to for gromming the steeper parts of the course. We then went to the break tent, only to find there was not food left. This was the busiest day yet as most volunteers were on site working the men's and ladies tracks at the some time.
After a quick trip up the gondola and back down, we were dismissed. Tomorrow is the Super Combined event. This is when the racers run the downhill (again), followed by a run down the slalom track, which starts right above us. We were told to be back to 3:30 sign in, 4:30 load time. A few of us talked to Dave to explain our situation about travel. To get there for this time, I would have to wake up at 1:30am. This is just not going to happen as I am way too tired . I'm just going to have to be late. To make things worse, the food services can't serve us before 5am, so we were not getting breakfast either. Many people were pretty upset, but with more snow forcasted, there will be lots of work to do before the first race.
I just watched the Canadians do their downhill run on CTV. If you look closely on the screen just at the point that Jan Hudek hits Boyd's Bump, you can see me. I'm standing directly in the middle of the 6 Olympic flags that line our station. I stood there purposely when Jan came down, just to see if I would be abe to see myself. Well, it worked. You can't see my face, only my blue jacket, and only for a split second.
I haven't had a day off yet, but should get one Wedensday, when the ladies run the downhill. I plan to watch this from the hill somewhere, that is if my day off is not cancelled as they all have been for everyone up until now.
Go Canada Go
Monday, February 15, 2010
Day 6 - Happy Valentines Day
Today was a late start for me: 12 noon load time. The brain trust that figures out how 1200 volunteers should take to the hill is truely amazing, One day before the big race, and our team drew the late start! I had plenty of time in the morning to have a nice talk with my family in Florida. After a nice bath and a bacon and egg breakfast (first one since I arived) I headed for the bus stop, Now that the games have started, the demands on the transit have increased exponentially. The bus was packed full, just like the night before. Gone are the days of have a private bus ride.
Today I grabbed my Atomics for out on the hill. Having the fat boards really helped with alot of the step packing I ended up involved in today. Once our team was assembled on the gondola bridge we headed up the hill. The snow was coming down really hard at that time. Dave got our direction for the day and for a nice change, we were assigned to cleanup the Toilet Bowl section of the course. As soon as we departed Creekside midstation for the Garbonzo lift, the skies began to clear. We arrived at the top of Toilet bowl and began to dig out both sides of the A nets. These are the really big nets that form the foundation of the safety system for the racers. All the snow around the edges of these nets needs to be cleaned up. We dragged the snow back about 3 to 4 feet from the nets and then used a hand driven snow blower to push the snow over the net. When this was done, we proceed down to the Carosel section (bottom to Toilet Bowl) to build a 4 layer B net system to cover the huge left turn these guys will be making tomorrow.
Some of us then ate our lunch at this point. Dave then asked Cory (his son), Fernando and myself to proceed down to the Weasel section to tamp the inside part of the A nets located there. This is perhalps that steepest section of the track. Climbing in behind these nets gives a new perspective on what was going on. Somehow we managed to complete the job of side step packing down this steep face (see pics to details). Once this was done, we proecced up to the top to see if anyone needed any more help. With the exception of some water injection programs going on, the track was ready.
Off to the Weasel House we went, were the crowd was very pumped up. The race was going for sure now. You could feel the excitment in the air: the first Olympic downhill at Whistler was set. We didn't get off the hill til 6pm (short easy day), so our time in the tent was short. After grabbing some groceries in Creekside, I headed for the Village to take in some of the Olympic vibe. I got to see a bit of the Fire and Ice ceremony, where local riders and skiers would fly through a set of Olympic rings that were on fire. This all happens essentailly in the dark. Very spectacular indeed.
I'm writting this entry from the bus on my way home, since last night I was falling asleep while writting. My apologies for the horrific job spelling: just no time for little things like that.
Early start tomorrow: 4:30 breakfast, 5:30 load time. Means wake up time is 3:30am
Go Canada Go!
PS Nice Gold Medal tonight EH?
Today I grabbed my Atomics for out on the hill. Having the fat boards really helped with alot of the step packing I ended up involved in today. Once our team was assembled on the gondola bridge we headed up the hill. The snow was coming down really hard at that time. Dave got our direction for the day and for a nice change, we were assigned to cleanup the Toilet Bowl section of the course. As soon as we departed Creekside midstation for the Garbonzo lift, the skies began to clear. We arrived at the top of Toilet bowl and began to dig out both sides of the A nets. These are the really big nets that form the foundation of the safety system for the racers. All the snow around the edges of these nets needs to be cleaned up. We dragged the snow back about 3 to 4 feet from the nets and then used a hand driven snow blower to push the snow over the net. When this was done, we proceed down to the Carosel section (bottom to Toilet Bowl) to build a 4 layer B net system to cover the huge left turn these guys will be making tomorrow.
Some of us then ate our lunch at this point. Dave then asked Cory (his son), Fernando and myself to proceed down to the Weasel section to tamp the inside part of the A nets located there. This is perhalps that steepest section of the track. Climbing in behind these nets gives a new perspective on what was going on. Somehow we managed to complete the job of side step packing down this steep face (see pics to details). Once this was done, we proecced up to the top to see if anyone needed any more help. With the exception of some water injection programs going on, the track was ready.
Off to the Weasel House we went, were the crowd was very pumped up. The race was going for sure now. You could feel the excitment in the air: the first Olympic downhill at Whistler was set. We didn't get off the hill til 6pm (short easy day), so our time in the tent was short. After grabbing some groceries in Creekside, I headed for the Village to take in some of the Olympic vibe. I got to see a bit of the Fire and Ice ceremony, where local riders and skiers would fly through a set of Olympic rings that were on fire. This all happens essentailly in the dark. Very spectacular indeed.
I'm writting this entry from the bus on my way home, since last night I was falling asleep while writting. My apologies for the horrific job spelling: just no time for little things like that.
Early start tomorrow: 4:30 breakfast, 5:30 load time. Means wake up time is 3:30am
Go Canada Go!
PS Nice Gold Medal tonight EH?
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Day 4 (part 2) and day 5 - Gone Skiing
After spending 2 hours back at Jeff's, which was a nice break, I headed back to Whislter for my 1pm load time, only to find that once again, my shift had been changed! We were told that the 1pm shift people would not be gojng out on to the track. The winch cats were still working all over the top section, to the course was on a 'hard close'. Our next shift was to start the next morning at 5am, which means you need to be there by 4:30am to have time to eat and get suited up to the hill.
Rather than heading home, we had lunch at the volunteer break tent and the a bunch of the gang decided tomgo for a ski. Dave (our crew chief), his son Cory, Conner, Lange, Alli and myself headed up from Creekside gondola and boarded the Red chair to the top. This was my first time in Whistler in 11 years, so I was pretty excited. There had been 20cm of new fluff the night before (hence all the changes to scheduling), so we were pretty excited to get up there. Conner elected as our leader. This guy is an absolute animal on skis as I found out a few momenets later when he led us on our warmup run down Rat Fink. This is marked as black (difficult), though it's not very steep. The thing that makes this run a bit tricky is the quick changes in
pitch near the top, followed by two nice sections of open tree skiing. After two falls, I did manage to catch up to the group on the run-out to the Emerald chair. After riding back up to the RoundHouse, we boared the Peak chair to the top. Once we all had arrived at the top, Conner asked if everyone was okay with steeps. My legs were already a bit sore from the trip down rat
fink, so I opted for an easier route down (Peak to Creek). After an awesome powder run, I rode the Red chair again. I ended up spenting about 2 hours on the hill that afternoon.
That night was the opening ceremonies, which I watched most of from the Weasel House. What a great show it was too. They have a big screen and two nice HD tv's in the tent. Part way through, I spotted Dave Irwin in the crowd (see pics). If you don't know who this guy is, he is an original member of the infamous Crazy Canuks. What a treat to be watching the opening of the
Olympics with a true skiing icon. It wanted to hit the Village to see the lighting of the final torch, so I jumped a bus from Creekside to Whistler village. There are screens and stages setup all over the village. The village was not too crowded, but still very much alive with the Olympic spirit. Since I was due back at 5am the next day, I headed back home for a short nap.
Rising at 3:15 am, I again boarded the bus from Pemby to Whister, to make sure I was on time. You see, you cant travel on the course without you crew chief, so you don't want to be left behind once the crew boards the creekside gondola. I made it on time, and had a nice breakfast. Across the table from me was Ms. Hudec, the mother of Jan Hudec. We had a nice chat about how
proud she was to be there as a volunteer while her some competed. Shortly after breakfast we were informed that the downhill has now been postponed until Monday. However, we still we going out onto the hill.
Our 'program' from the 'Weasel Section' down to Slalom Start was called a 'step program'. What this means is, you have to 'step' down the run, to compact the snow. This is not a 'side slip', but a 'step' It takes about 5 minutes to approx. 200 feet. This is a really pain staking job, as your legs get really tired doig it. We eventually arrived at our section after 2 hours of stepping which included stepping the first pitch of the slalom start. This is a very steep section, were the new snow had not bonded at all to the existing surface, so stepping this was really hard to do, without creating 'slofs' of snow.
Our next job was to cleanup and inventory our entire section. This took up about another 2 hours. After that we all went to the Olympic Rings just above the finish line, for a photo session. We also burried a 'loonie' under the snow We were dismissed by 1pm, where at that time, the 'hard core' group went skiing, while the rest of us (myself included) headed to the village to do some looking about. The village was very busy, now that the games have officially started. Another quick visit to the Weasel House, and then it was off to Pemby for a sleep. I jumped on the bus, which as packed full, and started talking to anouther volunteer who looked familier. Well, he turned out to be John from Skyloft. We chatted all the was home and shared videos from each of our venues using our camers.
Rather than heading home, we had lunch at the volunteer break tent and the a bunch of the gang decided tomgo for a ski. Dave (our crew chief), his son Cory, Conner, Lange, Alli and myself headed up from Creekside gondola and boarded the Red chair to the top. This was my first time in Whistler in 11 years, so I was pretty excited. There had been 20cm of new fluff the night before (hence all the changes to scheduling), so we were pretty excited to get up there. Conner elected as our leader. This guy is an absolute animal on skis as I found out a few momenets later when he led us on our warmup run down Rat Fink. This is marked as black (difficult), though it's not very steep. The thing that makes this run a bit tricky is the quick changes in
pitch near the top, followed by two nice sections of open tree skiing. After two falls, I did manage to catch up to the group on the run-out to the Emerald chair. After riding back up to the RoundHouse, we boared the Peak chair to the top. Once we all had arrived at the top, Conner asked if everyone was okay with steeps. My legs were already a bit sore from the trip down rat
fink, so I opted for an easier route down (Peak to Creek). After an awesome powder run, I rode the Red chair again. I ended up spenting about 2 hours on the hill that afternoon.
That night was the opening ceremonies, which I watched most of from the Weasel House. What a great show it was too. They have a big screen and two nice HD tv's in the tent. Part way through, I spotted Dave Irwin in the crowd (see pics). If you don't know who this guy is, he is an original member of the infamous Crazy Canuks. What a treat to be watching the opening of the
Olympics with a true skiing icon. It wanted to hit the Village to see the lighting of the final torch, so I jumped a bus from Creekside to Whistler village. There are screens and stages setup all over the village. The village was not too crowded, but still very much alive with the Olympic spirit. Since I was due back at 5am the next day, I headed back home for a short nap.
Rising at 3:15 am, I again boarded the bus from Pemby to Whister, to make sure I was on time. You see, you cant travel on the course without you crew chief, so you don't want to be left behind once the crew boards the creekside gondola. I made it on time, and had a nice breakfast. Across the table from me was Ms. Hudec, the mother of Jan Hudec. We had a nice chat about how
proud she was to be there as a volunteer while her some competed. Shortly after breakfast we were informed that the downhill has now been postponed until Monday. However, we still we going out onto the hill.
Our 'program' from the 'Weasel Section' down to Slalom Start was called a 'step program'. What this means is, you have to 'step' down the run, to compact the snow. This is not a 'side slip', but a 'step' It takes about 5 minutes to approx. 200 feet. This is a really pain staking job, as your legs get really tired doig it. We eventually arrived at our section after 2 hours of stepping which included stepping the first pitch of the slalom start. This is a very steep section, were the new snow had not bonded at all to the existing surface, so stepping this was really hard to do, without creating 'slofs' of snow.
Our next job was to cleanup and inventory our entire section. This took up about another 2 hours. After that we all went to the Olympic Rings just above the finish line, for a photo session. We also burried a 'loonie' under the snow We were dismissed by 1pm, where at that time, the 'hard core' group went skiing, while the rest of us (myself included) headed to the village to do some looking about. The village was very busy, now that the games have officially started. Another quick visit to the Weasel House, and then it was off to Pemby for a sleep. I jumped on the bus, which as packed full, and started talking to anouther volunteer who looked familier. Well, he turned out to be John from Skyloft. We chatted all the was home and shared videos from each of our venues using our camers.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Day 4 - Men's Training Run #2 Cancelled
One thing for sure about being at the Olympics is that you have to be ready to deal with changes. (and a major lack of sleep) For example, I rose today at 5:15am so I could be at a meeting this morning at 7am. I arrived on time, only to find that the shifts have changed again. Watch the video for the speaches about this. In fact, Ms. Janyk gave a very inspirational speach at the meeting. Worth the watch, especially a day before Michael's big day. They tell us that the downhill will go tomorrow as planed, but......our shifts run like this: 1pm to 10pm tonight is Yellow and Green, 10pm to 7am is red and black teams. I'm yellow, so I will be on the track during the opening ceremonies tonight :-( However, I'm back on the course at 7am tomorrow, on RACE DAY!
After a quick breakfast with Fernando and Wayne (my parters in crime) I headed back to Pemby (local speak) for a break, hence this mid-day entry. THe videos are not really organized well, but there are a bunch up there now. I was able to film Eric and Robbie along with Bode Miller and Dider Cuche during yesterdays training run.
Signing out for now......
After a quick breakfast with Fernando and Wayne (my parters in crime) I headed back to Pemby (local speak) for a break, hence this mid-day entry. THe videos are not really organized well, but there are a bunch up there now. I was able to film Eric and Robbie along with Bode Miller and Dider Cuche during yesterdays training run.
Signing out for now......
Day 3 - Early Rise
My alarm went off at 4:40am today. We were to be loading at 6am. so an early start was required. The on hill stuff happens 24hrs a day right now. The big event is now only 1 day away! One small problem: they are calling for 40cm of snow on Friday, so the word on the street right now is that the downhill won't go until Tuesday. I skied my first run wearing a headlamp, just to be able to see the snow.
I've been very close to the athletes many times. I walked along side Rob Boyd yesterday. He's the womens coach. On the ride up this morning in the dark, I was joined by two female racers from France. At the end of the day, coming off the hill we all walked out beside Britt Janyk. Actually, the athletes even share the same breakfast tent with us!! Tonight at the Weasel House, I spotted Jan Hudec.
Today was training run #2 and was completed sucessfully. The ladies were also running training today, so since both courses share the same finish, and the men's finish was moved up to slalom start. As the racers pasted the make shift finish line, they had to come to a stop right in front of our section. It was fun to watch the Canadians come down. Robbie Dixon was 2nd to go, followed by Eric Guay, Manny went 15th and Jan Hudec went 38th. Other Canadians to run today were Louis-Pierre Helie, Tyler Nella, Ryan Semple (no, not Stemple) and last but not least Michael Janyk.
The highlight of the day was when we spotted the RCMP officer perched way up in a tree. Look at the pictures to see this. There is security here like you've never seen before, even in the trees and on every corner.
We were dismissed early today due to weather and the fact that the training run was a success. Off to Weasel House to unwind, home for diner and off to bed.
New pictures have been uploaded. I'm working on getting my videos upload. I was able to m 2 gates for most of the Canadians, Bode Miller and Didier Cuche today.
I've been very close to the athletes many times. I walked along side Rob Boyd yesterday. He's the womens coach. On the ride up this morning in the dark, I was joined by two female racers from France. At the end of the day, coming off the hill we all walked out beside Britt Janyk. Actually, the athletes even share the same breakfast tent with us!! Tonight at the Weasel House, I spotted Jan Hudec.
Today was training run #2 and was completed sucessfully. The ladies were also running training today, so since both courses share the same finish, and the men's finish was moved up to slalom start. As the racers pasted the make shift finish line, they had to come to a stop right in front of our section. It was fun to watch the Canadians come down. Robbie Dixon was 2nd to go, followed by Eric Guay, Manny went 15th and Jan Hudec went 38th. Other Canadians to run today were Louis-Pierre Helie, Tyler Nella, Ryan Semple (no, not Stemple) and last but not least Michael Janyk.
The highlight of the day was when we spotted the RCMP officer perched way up in a tree. Look at the pictures to see this. There is security here like you've never seen before, even in the trees and on every corner.
We were dismissed early today due to weather and the fact that the training run was a success. Off to Weasel House to unwind, home for diner and off to bed.
New pictures have been uploaded. I'm working on getting my videos upload. I was able to m 2 gates for most of the Canadians, Bode Miller and Didier Cuche today.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
On The Hill - Day2
Up at 7:30, which will likely be my latest wake up time for the next little while. Headed of to WCR (Whistler Creekside) for my venue training, on a bus (coach) from Pemby driven by none other than a TTC driver out here to help with the games. Dave Willis had said this was at 10am, but it was really at 9am, so missed a bunch of the class, but still got signed off. We had a tour of WCR venue and it was off on to the hill to find my crew. It has just starting snowing about that time.
My first stop of the day was the Break Station tent at the top of WCR Gondola (bottom of Red Chair). Great soup. Chatted with a bunch from the athlete medial team, who are CSPS too. I then rode the Garbonzo chair to the top of the downhill start. From there I made my way down to dispatch at the tunnel just below Expressway. The dispathcher got a hold of Dave, but he was about 1.5km below us and since I had not been on the track yet, I had to wait for an escort. I'm good to go now, knowing which side of the track to be on at each spot and where to cross.
I made it to my section, called Chef's Belly, just about Boyd's Chin (or Bump, which ever you prefer). This is the second last jump heading into the finish. I've been told some racers fly 1/2 way down this section in the air! After some introductions, I was immediatly put to work. You see, today was a training day and the track had to be perfect. We had our section cleared and ready to go by 2:45pm, 15 minutes before the start (delayed start). Well, at 3:05, the race (training) was called off. So, we took to opening a few spots on the B netting to let the cats through and it was off to the Weasel House for a refreshment.
THe Weasel House the effectivly the beer tent for the race crew. They have 2 HD TV's, WiFi and 2 telephones for free North American calls! I used this to call my family. After a couple of bevy's , I headed out to catch the bus home. Actually, I have to take 2 buses from WCR. One to get to the village and another to get home to Pemby.
Forgive me for any spelling mistakes. It's 11:30pm and I have to get up at 4:45am to be at the hill before 6am. Traing should be a go at 9:30am. (I have a copy of today's start list, I'll post this to the site once I get home and can scan it in. Hopefully I'll be able to get a copy of the real race list this Saturday...
Pictures updated for today.
My first stop of the day was the Break Station tent at the top of WCR Gondola (bottom of Red Chair). Great soup. Chatted with a bunch from the athlete medial team, who are CSPS too. I then rode the Garbonzo chair to the top of the downhill start. From there I made my way down to dispatch at the tunnel just below Expressway. The dispathcher got a hold of Dave, but he was about 1.5km below us and since I had not been on the track yet, I had to wait for an escort. I'm good to go now, knowing which side of the track to be on at each spot and where to cross.
I made it to my section, called Chef's Belly, just about Boyd's Chin (or Bump, which ever you prefer). This is the second last jump heading into the finish. I've been told some racers fly 1/2 way down this section in the air! After some introductions, I was immediatly put to work. You see, today was a training day and the track had to be perfect. We had our section cleared and ready to go by 2:45pm, 15 minutes before the start (delayed start). Well, at 3:05, the race (training) was called off. So, we took to opening a few spots on the B netting to let the cats through and it was off to the Weasel House for a refreshment.
THe Weasel House the effectivly the beer tent for the race crew. They have 2 HD TV's, WiFi and 2 telephones for free North American calls! I used this to call my family. After a couple of bevy's , I headed out to catch the bus home. Actually, I have to take 2 buses from WCR. One to get to the village and another to get home to Pemby.
Forgive me for any spelling mistakes. It's 11:30pm and I have to get up at 4:45am to be at the hill before 6am. Traing should be a go at 9:30am. (I have a copy of today's start list, I'll post this to the site once I get home and can scan it in. Hopefully I'll be able to get a copy of the real race list this Saturday...
Pictures updated for today.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Day 1 - Travel to Whistler
Susan and Emily brought me to the airport at about 7:20am for my 9am flight to Vancouver. It was sad to see my wife and Emily go. Without a doubt, the hardest part of this trip will be how much I will miss my family. The flight was uneventful and I was able to spend some time learning my new camera: the Samsung ST550. This is a relly neat camera, with some very cool features. For example, it can be set to take a picture automatically when the subject acutally 'smiles'. Crazy.
While seated in the front row on the bus from Vancouver to Whistler, I could barely believe my eyes when I saw Nancy Askin step on board. Nancy is the National VP of Education for the CSPS. She is also the person who awarded me the President's Trophy back in 2006 when my team won the Ontario Divisional First Aid and Rescue competition. We rode together up to Whister and chatted about many things. I was sure I would meet people I knew on this trip but I really didn't think it would be that soon. Small world indeed. We spent the next few hours together getting our acreditation.
After my acreditation, I boarded another bus to Pemberton. Jeff met me at the bus stop and helped carry my stuff to his place a short walk away. We had a beer or two and some diner. Nice to finally be here.
My venue training was moved up a day. Tomorrow at 10am I will be venue trained and in the afternoon, I will be ON THE HILL!
The adventure has finally begun!
I've updated the 'Olympic Pictures' with today's pictures.
While seated in the front row on the bus from Vancouver to Whistler, I could barely believe my eyes when I saw Nancy Askin step on board. Nancy is the National VP of Education for the CSPS. She is also the person who awarded me the President's Trophy back in 2006 when my team won the Ontario Divisional First Aid and Rescue competition. We rode together up to Whister and chatted about many things. I was sure I would meet people I knew on this trip but I really didn't think it would be that soon. Small world indeed. We spent the next few hours together getting our acreditation.
After my acreditation, I boarded another bus to Pemberton. Jeff met me at the bus stop and helped carry my stuff to his place a short walk away. We had a beer or two and some diner. Nice to finally be here.
My venue training was moved up a day. Tomorrow at 10am I will be venue trained and in the afternoon, I will be ON THE HILL!
The adventure has finally begun!
I've updated the 'Olympic Pictures' with today's pictures.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Two Weeks To Go
Well the count down is really on now. In two weeks, I will fly out to Vancouver, board a bus to Whister and thus begin a 3 1/2 week adventure with the Olympics. I am very excited now, but feel a bit disorganized. I haven't packed anything and I still need to buy a few things like a camera and a netbook computer. I plan to use Skype to stay in touch with my family while I gone. I've got Skype accounts setup for each person who logs onto my home computer (Susan my wife, Justin and Daniel my sons and Emily my daughter). That way, when I call, and the computer is turned on, someone will answer. I plan to buy an Asus Eee 1005HA netbook for under $400. These devices look great for basic communications and blogging etc. They have a built in webcam with microphone and run Windows 7. The camera I'm looking at is the Olympus Tough. It's a 10 mega pixel camera that is apparently waterproof and freeze proof.
This past weekend, my friends in the Kawartha Zone Ski Patrol confirmed that they will be providing me with some monetary assistance. Certainly not expected, but this is greatly appreciated. Thanks Kawartha Zone!!
I get asked everyday now what I will be doing. To be honest, I'm not exactly sure. Course crew members do many different things. The Weasel Workers are the people who volunteer for all of the races at Whistler. Here is a great description of the possbile roles that I will be working in Course Crews. The Beer Tent Crew sounds fun!
This past weekend, my friends in the Kawartha Zone Ski Patrol confirmed that they will be providing me with some monetary assistance. Certainly not expected, but this is greatly appreciated. Thanks Kawartha Zone!!
I get asked everyday now what I will be doing. To be honest, I'm not exactly sure. Course crew members do many different things. The Weasel Workers are the people who volunteer for all of the races at Whistler. Here is a great description of the possbile roles that I will be working in Course Crews. The Beer Tent Crew sounds fun!
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